Innovative Teaching Showcase

Portfolio

Overview

"We shall not cease from exploration and the end
of all our exploring will be to arrive where we
started and know the place for the first time."
–T.S. Eliot, Four
Quartets

This year's Showcase was designated to honor faculty who
"aspire to address inclusion, diversity and difference
in their courses." It is an honor to be recognized
among those aspiring to this mission. I believe that
those of us teaching in a human service discipline have
the opportunity to put these efforts at the heart of our
work. It is powerful to
hear a student speak of a class experience as
transformational, causing a shift in the way they view
the world and their potential to impact it.
Whether you use tolerance or another term to describe
this shift, it is this impact, this outcome that I
believe holds the most value in the work that I
do.

I have to admit that I grappled with the
term tolerance in the preparation of this
portfolio, but it was a struggle worth having.
Definitions of tolerance often include words
like endure or allow, implying that it
means to "put up with" something or someone. The term
falls short of describing this transformation or shift
that I have witnessed in students. After some interesting
conversations with faculty in my program, it seems that
tolerance is better placed as one of a number of steps to
achieving something on higher ground; something closer
to reverence.

These Recreation Program faculty conversations led us to
imagine a series of stages in the development of
reverence, all worthy targets in their own
right. These progressive
stages might include acknowledgement, tolerance,
appreciation, reciprocity, respect, and reverence.
There are other equally reflective terms, but the bottom
line is that the ultimate goal is something bigger than,
more impactful than, toleration. I know that I
aspire for something beyond tolerance, hoping that
students will be positioned to empower, enhance and
elaborate the lives of others. To stop with the
idea of tolerance would unnecessarily limit the
potential of what we do in preparing students to be
agents for change.

A subsequent challenge is describing this shift.
Students struggle to find the words to describe their
experiences. As a student in one of my classes describes
it:

I had come out a better and stronger individual
and the best part was, I didn't even notice it was
happening...the feeling was indescribable.

Attempts at explaining their experiences often wield
powerful descriptions. One student* in our program found
these words:

I looked into his eyes while he was speaking and
saw my brother, my sister, and my friends. My ill
presumptions quickly dissipated and a true respect and
yes, love, grew like an ember being blown by the wind on
a dying flame. I pulled him towards the dance floor and
danced several dances with him. I honestly have never
enjoyed dancing as much as I did at that moment. I
hugged his armless body with confidence, respect, and
love. What a gift this was. I faced a gross injustice
that burrowed in some dormant space, a prejudice
camouflaged as acceptance in my heart. I am so
humbled.

*This reflection was in response to
participating in an overnight camp with teens and adults
who have developmental disabilities.

I have found that other educators struggle to describe
this powerful shift. Rud and Garrison1 have had some
success, stating:

Students reflections often described an organic
process and a resulting transformation... They were a
convergence of action, thought and unavoidable
emotion...their hearts, their heads struggled in
response to experience/action but the results was a
powerful shift...something that wasn't a 'thing' that
they heard or thought, but something that lived in
them...something that they would carry with
them...something that shifted their world view...an awe
for the power of discovering something they didn't know
that they didn't know.

In one of the courses I teach,Recreation 385:
Leisure and Aging, students are partnered with an
older adult for independent, weekly conversations and
activities surrounding course topics. Over the quarter
they are also asked to explore and share the role of
leisure over the course of their lives. Although they
often fumble finding the right words, student reflections,
especially at a closing group celebration, speak to great
reverence for their partner. To revere, according
to Webster
Dictionary, is to "regard as worthy of great honor."
Students and their older adult partner are given
opportunities to honor each other and to articulate the
worth of their relationship and the process of sharing
their lives and thoughts.

One of Jill Heckathorn's
students sharing her project with her older adult
partner.

For example, through a creative project gifted to their
partner, students recognize the individual pride,
accomplishments and passions of their older adult
partner's life; they also reflect on what they have
learned from them over the course of the quarter.
Individually driven, students' projects have taken the
shape of things such as a poem, a painting, a scrapbook,
a musical tribute, or a letter. These recognitions,
this ceremony of sorts, seem to further breed reverence
for the individuals involved and for the groups of
people that they represent.

Paul Woodruff gives a definition of reverence that
works well in the context of this discussion: "the
capacity for a range of feelings and emotions that are
linked. It is a sense that there is something larger than
a human being, accompanied by capacities for awe, respect,
and shame; it is often expressed in, and reinforced by
ceremony."2 Well selected and designed course activities
can provide ceremony or celebration that reinforces the
development of reverence.

Students and campers participating in Camp TEAM
share many bonding moments.

My experience is that
courses linking students with opportunities to review
their beliefs and respectfully explore differences
with others can provide the necessary ceremony and
celebration to foster reverence. According to Rud and
Garrison1, "Ceremonies of reverence invoke
feelings of shared veneration and wonder at the kind
of higher meanings and values that connect individuals
together in even the most diverse communities such as
truth, learning, and justice, along with the schools
that transmit them across generations."

The question of how this best happens continues to
challenge me. I have been
teaching in the Recreation Program at Western since 1980,
and have witnessed some extraordinary, almost magical,
moments as students discover how their beliefs and
behaviors have the potential to limit or enrich the lives
of others. I have read student accounts of
life-changing experiences as a result of course activities
that connect them with diverse people and cultures. I have
heard students speak of the impact of interactive
fieldtrips that, in their words, were transformational.
These reports have both humbled and inspired me as a
teacher. They have undoubtedly been the fuel that drives
me to include some type of experiential component in many
classes I teach. I have explored and experimented with
the qualities of course activities that matter, that allow
for ceremony and celebration. What I have discovered is
that there is no absolute formula. Just when I think I
have it nailed, the individuals change and so does the
experience. I have, although, identified a few essential
qualities.

Experiential learning seems to be at the heart of
teaching for reverence. In planning for experiences, I
recognize that what we don't do (restraint) in our program
and in our classes is as significant to this end as what
we do (action). Students in our program are involved in
quarterly off-campus retreats, 240 hours of fieldwork, a
15-credit professional internship, as well as numerous
community-based course projects that provide potential for
connecting with others. A
safe, structured and supportive space is expansive and
allows for individual variation in student
experiences. An overly-managed or tightly-directed
experience can be constrictive and unduly limit learning.
In the Reverent Educator Newsletter, Rud and
Garrison1 suggest the qualities of a learning experience
that lead to a good balance of control and freedom:

Education should act to expand, it should be
expansive. Too may directives, the wrong prompts,
excessive rubric criteria, acts to contain, constrain,
and discourage self-directed thought, self-discovery,
and a sense of ownership, true belief.

In the first year of the Leisure and Aging partnership
project I provided weekly questions for discussion and a
detailed template for the development of their final
project. It only took two weeks to realize that I was
over-directing both the discussions and the projects. The
individual nature of the experience was lost in the
structure of the assignment; students and their older
adult partners were asking for a more organic process.
Students now develop their own individual discussion
questions each week and propose a project that they feel
best honors the unique life of their partner. Weekly
class time is provided to share experiences and receive
peer support.

Where the experiential aspect of class is critical, it
does not stand alone. Making it part of an integrated
curriculum is pivotal to creating a shift toward
reverence.

Experience as Teacher: Including the
Head, Hands and Heart in Learning

Rudolph Steiner, a German philosopher, is noteworthy
for many things including his work on how children learn.
The translation of Steiner's work (Anthroposophy) into
educational practice can be witnessed at Waldorf Schools
around the world. At the core of Waldorf teaching is the
belief that at its best, education includes
the head or intellect, the heart or
feeling, and the hands or will. David Kolb3
ascribes to a similar formula when he describes the
essential qualities of the learning process for all ages:
"watching, thinking (mind), feeling (emotion), and doing
(muscle.)" A student in our program reflected on these
same qualities:

The feelings I experienced are something that
can't be laid out like a set of paints, it had to be
created and lived through, and by my choice alone. My
technical wisdom is great for class discussions, being
politically correct and tests, but nothing can prepare
you for Camp TEAM like Camp TEAM itself. Are my
inhibitions, fears and anxiety wiped away? Not even
close, but I now see that my heart is big enough to do
my best and help everyone recreate no matter their
capabilities.

Another student addressed the need for an integrated curriculum:

From Camp TEAM I learned that the simple experience of 24 hours with people with disabilities can ignite enormous compassion and eliminate ignorance and prejudice. I also realized that reading about it, watching videos about it, and being lectured about it are not quite enough—it truly required the experience to seal the deal.

I teach a senior-level course on ecotourism which
includes a three-day fieldtrip to Neah Bay. During the
trip, we explore what community-based tourism means in the
context of the Makah people's unique culture and
remarkable natural resources. There are readings, films
and lectures before and during the trip that provide
information on the history of Neah Bay, tourism issues
facing native communities, and the culture and customs of
the Makah Nation (Head). This knowledge doesn't
develop into understanding until students visit
the local museum, learn to do cedar bark weaving under the
instruction of a Makah artist, participate in a beach
clean-up, or take a guided hike to Cape
Flattery(Hands).

This new understanding helps to inform them on how to
develop tours and programs that are well researched and
respectful of place. But students report that a deep
commitment to sensitive and sustainable tourism happens
only when their hearts become engaged in the experience.
They most often identify these times as ones of intimate
and authentic exchange: the conversations they have with
Makah elders over breakfast at the senior center, the
personal stories and songs they hear from one of the
Makah whalers, or joking and laughing during a
spontaneous basketball game with local teens.

The idea of an integrated learning experience provides
a useful framework for a discussion of the courses I
teach. The remainder of this portfolio focuses on three of
these courses and the experiential activities that best
support and animate the development of reverence.

Discussion of theory, acquiring knowledge
(Head)

Skill development (Hands)

Opportunity for authentic/natural exchanges
(Heart)

Reflection (celebration, ceremony)

Courses

This is a required course for Recreation majors taken
their first quarter in the program. Students are
introduced to professional practice in Therapeutic
Recreation, one area of specialty within the field of
recreation. Other topics covered are disabling
conditions, Americans with Disabilities Act,
leisure constraints, attitudes and beliefs regarding
disability. The course also introduces students to
principles of inclusion and strategies for activity
modification, which they practice during these two class
activities:

Camp TEAM: 70 WWU students and 70
community members with developmental disabilities
play, eat, sleep and work together at an overnight
camp on Samish Island. The students act as
co-campers, cabin mates, and activity leaders. The
community members act as co-campers and ultimately,
teachers. This activity is co-sponsored with
Bellingham Parks and Recreation.

Camp runs Thursday through Saturday. Students
arrive early for additional training and
camp preparations. Campers are
transported by bus or van from Skagit
and Whatcom counties. Camp TEAM is made
possible through support from Skagit and
Whatcom Counties, a grant from Whatcom
Educational Credit Union, registration
fees paid by community campers, and a
small class activity fee paid by Western
students.

Each student is assigned a leadership
role at camp and is required to lead one
small or large group activity. As part
of their block of spring classes,
students are also enrolled in Recr 275,
Program Leadership. As part of that
course they develop written activity
plans for Camp TEAM and evaluate their
leadership. Recreation Program faculty
attend camp and provide additional
supervision and support for
students. Four students from the
previous year provide leadership,
mentorship and training to Recr 274 students for Independent Study credit.

Theory, knowledge:
Social and Medical Models of Disabilities

Developmental Disabilities

Models and principles of inclusion

Activity modification process

Skill development: Activity Adaptation,
Group Leadership

Opportunity for authentic/natural
exchange: Shared participation in
activities with persons who have
disabilities.

Reflection: A closing activity at
camp allows students and campers to share their
experience with the whole group.

Student Reflections: The only
words to describe camp are "utterly
powerful"... The injustice hit hard and I began to
open a flood gate. The tears kept coming out and
I did not know how to process what I had just
realized. These people have so much to offer the
world with their smiles, kind hearts and insights
on life. Our society has marginalized disabled
persons whether intentional or not. I was truly
crying for my new friends. The compassion made my
heart swell and the tears were not about to dry
up. This cleansing was necessary in order for me
to realize that I can help.

Opportunity for authentic/natural exchange:
Shared participation in activities with athletes
who play adapted sports, discussion with
professionals from adapted sports organizations.

Reflection: Athletes discuss the role of
sports in their lives: question and answer
period

Debriefing in class in small and large
groups.

Student Reflection:I gained
incredible insight into my own deep-rooted fears,
a strong sense of the power of compassion and
inclusion, and how simple things like time,
adaptations, and attitudes and expectations can
easily create an inclusive environment.

Jill Heckathorn's students
working with their partners for the Leisure and Aging
class

This is an elective course for Recreation
majors taken during their second or fourth quarter in
the program. The course is designed to provide
students with an understanding of the realities and
myths of older adulthood so they can most effectively
provide quality recreation environments and services
for seniors. This is accomplished, in part through
involvement in the following class activity:

Partnership
Project: Students are partnered with
an older adult who they meet with on a weekly basis to
talk about topics being discussed in class and to
explore the role of leisure over the course of their
lives. Students complete a project for their partner
representing something that they learned from them or
about them. Students are required to do an analysis
paper connecting readings and class discussions with
their partnership experience.

Student Reflection: The
opportunities which old age holds for us are often
neglected or ignored. Why do so many people accept
the notion that aging is full of negativity?
Stereotypes may help the young individual to mask
their fears by categorizing the old individual and
their characteristics as completely separate from
their own identity and future.

This is an elective course taken during the
final quarter of the program. Focus is on
professional practices that capitalize on the benefits
of tourism and minimize its liabilities.
Environmental protection, cultural preservation and
community-based decision making drives class
discussion.

Neah Bay Fieldtrip: On a three-day
fieldtrip to the Makah Nation students study tourism and
the sense of place that tourism threatens to erode.
They meet with tribe tourism staff and help to develop
ideas for sustainable tourism. They share meals and
conversation with tribal elders, are taught activities
like canoeing and cedar basket weaving by community
members, and sit in discussion over current issues like
whaling. Students are mentored in community-based tour
guiding and tour leadership through the involvement of a
guide from Crooked Trails, a nonprofit, community-based
tourism organization in Seattle who co-leads the
trip.

Instruction by community members in cedar basket
weaving, canoeing, etc.

Reflection: Each student writes an article
directed toward Neah Bay Newsletter about his or her experience.

Debrief in class following the trip

Neah Bay field trip,
2005

Student Reflection: I
remember our dinners with tribal members and meeting
their families who shared in the experience. I felt
a sense of privy to be witness to family songs that
have carried on for generations, to take part in the
Bone Game that filled our cabin with the sound of
beating drums and laughter. These were times of
pure humbling joy. The kind of joy that makes you
witness to something much greater than yourself, a
connection with people you have never experienced.
I thank the Makah Tribe for allowing us to
experience their unique way of life ... that created a
sense of understanding and kinship.

Conclusion

Jill Heckathorn helps her students
welcome the campers

There are times when the work and energy
it takes to plan for meaningful experiential
opportunities feels overwhelming and more than once I
have mumbled "never again" under my breath.
Ultimately, the value clearly outweighs the effort and
I continue to be motivated by the students and
community members who open their minds and hearts to
new ways of thinking about their lives and their
work.

I am privileged to have the support of the Recreation
Program in making these class experiences possible. The
cohort model allows me to more easily schedule the blocks
of time required for these activities. The help and
support of faculty and staff in the Recreation Program are
essential to their success. I couldn't do what I do in
the way that I do it without the clear engagement and
appreciation of students in the Recreation Program.

"And most importantly, I learned that I need to
be the one who is actively pursuing an inclusive world.
I can't just expect someone else to make the change
happen; if I want something done, I need to be the one
to do it. I want to see the happiness on the faces of
those community members on every single face in this
world. We need that; we deserve that." (Recreation
Major 2011)